Apr 7, 2016

Book Review: Bend by Kivrin Wilson

When my college boyfriend betrayed me and left, breaking my heart, Jay picked a side. He chose me. He stayed, and for the past six years, he’s been my rock, my anchor, my compass…

Now we’ve grown up, finished school, and have careers. Me as a nurse practitioner; Jay as a doctor. He’s been everything I needed, but now I want more. I can’t stop thinking about him, and I’m done hiding it.

It’s time to find out if he wants me, too.

JAY

A friend. Not a lover. That’s who Mia Waters is to me.

I’ve tried damn hard to make sure our relationship stays that way. I’m the shoulder she leans on, the last one to talk to her before she goes to sleep at night… And after six years, she means more to me than my own family.

The moment I met her, I wanted her. But she belonged to someone else, so I pushed the need down. I didn’t take what I wanted. I’m not that guy. Her happiness meant more.

Until now. Until she asks me a question that shatters our unspoken boundaries. Have you ever thought about having sex with me? Six years of keeping her at arm’s length, and I can feel myself starting to give in and lose control with her.

I can’t let it happen. There are reasons I didn’t get close. She hasn’t let go of her ex-boyfriend, not really. And she has no idea about the lies I’ve told her.

What if she finds out about me? What if she finds out who I really am?

And what will she do when I leave?

5.0 BEND STARS!!!

“So in those six or seven years or whatever, have you ever thought about having sex with me?”

Bend is Kivrin Wilson's debut novel and Oh my God for all of those holy, this author could surely knock all the feels. The synopsis of this book was what really caught me so I immediately stalk the author,signed up for a news letter and I was so glad she's giving out ARC's because seriously I was really dying to read the book pronto.

I was superbly on a high the moment I started reading the book. When I say I was captivated is really an understatement because man it was really more than that. I was pulled right into the story and I really do not know what to feel. Hell!!! my emotions was at stake. I do not know how to handle what I have just read. What I thought woul be a simple and the usual bestfriend to lovers story is definitely not what I expected.

“If you don’t want to be in a relationship,”I say slowly, deliberately, like I’m explaining something to a child, “then don’t be. Why is this even a problem?”“Because.”That’s it. That’s all she says. I tilt my chin back down and widen my eyes at her. “Because why?”She hesitates so long I’m thinking she won’t go on, won’t explain. Then, while looking me straight in the eye, she says, “I like sex.”

So, Bend is a standalone contemporary romance that follows the story of Jay and Mia. Bestfriends for so long and you know how well this bestfriend thing will go. Yeah right, both of them have feelings for each other. Mia is very upfront on it almost messing up their friendship because seriously, who the hell asks her bestfriend about having sex with her? Oh yeah that's Mia. However, Jay no matter how deep his feelings is towards her kept fighting for it. First, it would definitely ruined/changed what they have. Second, he would leave her after her residency and of course the third and the most weighted of all reasons is due to his past. The uglier parts of the past that was better kept hidden than revealed.

Life is filled with heartache, tragedy, and cruelty. It’s shit piled on top of shit. I’ve learned, through necessity, how to cope.~Jay

But, Mia as the vixen as she is, kept pushing Jay and how could he ever resist the temptress???*fanning....

“This is a goddamned mistake, Mia. You know that, right?”No, I don’t know that. And I don’t understand why he thinks it is. “Then why are you doing it?”“Because you’re making it fucking impossible not to.”

Ermahgerd!!! I just had a female version of blue balls because wow those scenes were so damn hot.It was written incredibly...not overly graphical and just blended so well with the story I thought I couldn't cope up.

It’s like there are these little devils living inside me, and usually they’re asleep, but sometimes they spring to life and hijack my brain. ~Mia

As the story progresses, I was really anxious. I do not know where it would lead as all hell break lose. I was there just sitting...biting my nails...sighing..I went through one hell of a rollercoaster ride. Seriously, Kivrin Wilson nailed it. It's flawlessly written you get to fall in love all over again. I love it so much until now I'm still on a high. I even remember a quote I read quite sometime...

"Learn the wisdom of compromise, it's better to BEND a little than to BREAK"

I know him so well. Six years of friendship means I’ve seen him at his worst as well as his best. There’s no pretense between us, and trusting him is easy. No, he’s not my boyfriend. We’re not a couple. We just are. Being ourselves, enjoying each other’s company. I’m not much for labels, anyway.

Kivrin Wilson writes her books in first person point-of-view, so Kivrin thinks it only makes sense to write about herself in third person.

Kivrin learned as a teenager that she liked writing and that she liked romance novels. She first tried her hand at writing them in her early twenties, and then she tried for a while to get published, but when that didn’t work out, she spent the next decade or so dithering around (though that’s not quite the word she would use) before finally getting her act together enough to finish another manuscript. (Read more about that here.)

Kivrin is a mother, wife, unabashed cat lady, avid reader, Netflix binge watcher, proud introvert, and a passably good cook. When she’s not writing, she’s usually busy with her self-employed day job, though she tries to do that as little as possible. She enjoys exercising forces herself to run on her treadmill (while watching Netflix) because it allows her to eat chocolate.

Kivrin grew up in Norway, but she’s lived most of her adult life in Las Vegas, Nevada, where she currently shares a roof with her husband (who’s pretty amazing, according to him), their daughter (who’s definitely amazing, according to everyone), and two young male cats who behave very much like teenage boys and of whom she shares too many photos on Instagram.